Petrol jump fails to spark inflation

Motorists won't be surprised to find petrol prices jumped 10 per cent in the run-up to Christmas, but struggling households may find it difficult to believe other prices are in check.

The consumer price index rose 0.6 per cent in the final three months of 2017, smaller than some economists had been expecting.

This left the annual inflation rate at 1.9 per cent, up from 1.8 per cent previously, but still below the Reserve Bank's two to three per cent inflation target band.

The more interest-rate sensitive measures of underlying inflation - which smooth out volatile price swings - were equally subdued, rising 0.4 per cent on average in the quarter, for 1.9 per cent over the year.

BIS Oxford Economics' Head of Economics Australia Sarah Hunter said there was little sign of underlying inflationary pressures building up.

"Global inflationary pressures remain subdued, and although the (Australian) labour market had a spectacular 2017, wages growth is still very weak and likely to remain subdued for some time yet," she told AAP.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said fuel prices led the list of most significant price rises in the quarter, rising 10.4 per cent, followed by fruit (up 9.3 per cent) and tobacco (up 8.5 per cent).